I just finished reading Seth Godin’s new book Tribes. It’s an extremely motivational book about leadership. It’s also extremely short and to the point. I read the entire book in four hours, and the only reason it took me so long (it didn’t take me long at all!) is because I paused to take time to carry out my daily responsibilities.

This book is practically written for the music industry (Musicians, do you realize that your fans are your tribe?). I recommend every entrepreneur read this book (hint: everyone is an entrepreneur). I think this book should be a requirement for all leaders-and record producers and audio engineers are all leaders (hint: if you are reading this blog, you are a leader). If I were teaching a college course-any college course-I would make it a requirement to read this book, so needless to say I think all college students should read this book immediately.

Go read this book. Don’t waste time coming up with reasons why you can’t read this book, just get it done. We are all busy. We all have way too much stuff to be doing (Yeah, I know you have that presentation to prepare, or that test to study for, or that guitar to record, or that vocal to comp, or that checkbook to balance), but by the time you’re done thinking through all the chores you have to complete, you could be 50 pages in, and halfway to that brilliant epiphany that is going to set new things in motion for you.

Do this: take one week, and plan to work just a tiny bit harder. Put in just a little extra time by forgoing your regular relaxation time, and trade it for just a little time reading Tribes. It’s an extremely small investment for a potentially enormous return. And because you’re a faster reader than me, it won’t even take you four hours. Then you will be a heretic, the term Seth uses in the book to describe a person who does not accept the status quo, but instead evokes change (i.e. a leader). To make it almost effortless, the book is offered in multiple formats (even a free version). When you are finished with the book, give your copy to a friend.

One last thing: look for my buddy, Jonathan Harms, on the inside cover.

I’d love to hear about your epiphanies in the comments!

Last summer I had the pleasure of working on two records which were released yesterday (June 24th, 2008).

The first being the debut record from the rock/alternative band Seabird, ‘Til We See The Shore, released on Credential Recordings. Last spring my friend Jacquire King, who produced a lot of the record, invited me to be involved in the recording process. I am very grateful for the opportunity, as working with Seabird was a fantastic experience of friendship and professional growth for me.

Til We See The Shore is twelve tracks and runs 47m20s. It’s full of rock/alternative hits which range from piano centered ballads complemented by melodic guitar embellishments to slightly edgier/darker rock tunes backed by complex drum landscapes and unapologetic distorted bass discharges. Every song is brought to total completion via Aaron Morgan’s extremely characteristic and uncommonly warm lead vocal.

www.seabirdmusic.com
www.myspace.com/seabird

The other record I got to work on last summer was Rick Brantley’s debut record, Prize Fight Lover Soul Auctioneer, which was put out by Carnival Recording Company. Mark Wilson, a high school friend of mine, is Rick Brantley’s manager. He asked me to be involved in the recording process, and I was excited to do so. I got to record strings, horns, guitars, mandolins and background vocals on two songs. It’s always fun to hang out and work with friends in the studio. Especially when you’re making rock records.

Prize Fight Lover Soul Auctioneer is a straight up rock-anthem juggernaut. It is six tracks and runs 27m45s. Once you set this record in motion, you cannot stop it. It’s massive guitars and dense drums give the record a perpetual momentum. These elements build the foundation of a mean rock record which is then juxtaposed against the upper registers of warm brass and sweet strings. Rick’s raspy rock vocal rounds out the package. It has the perfect amount aggression to satisfy your rock appetite, and snuffs out any chance to claim this record as anything besides rock.

www.rickbrantley.com
www.myspace.com/rickbrantley

So both of these records hit the store shelves yesterday. They are available wherever recorded music is sold.
Seabird on iTunes
Rick Brantley on iTunes

I seem pretty interested in the promotion of these bands, don’t I? Well that is for two reasons. A) These artists are my friends, and I would like to see them do well in terms of record sales, etc. B) When you talk about these bands to other people you are indirectly supporting me and everyone else who’s name is in the liner notes. No, I don’t make money off the record sales, but I would like to see the projects I’m involved in get some good exposure.

So I want to ask a favor of you. Spend ten minutes listening to these artists’ music via the links I have posted. Afterwards, come back here and leave a comment with your own review. I would love to know what you think of the music. In addition, start one conversation with a friend about Seabird and Rick Brantley within the next seven days. It would be a great way for us all to connect with each other, very personally, around a common musical interest. Beyond that, it would be a great way for you to tell someone about some new music, and we all know how good it feels to be the first to know about a great new band, right?

I was away in Florida all weekend for a wedding, so I am a little late to the party about the Walter Yetnikoff interview. If you have not already seen it, you should watch it. [Walter Yetnikoff Interview]

I first learned about Walter Yetnikoff a few years back when I picked up a copy of the book [Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business] by Fredric Dannen.

This interview is awesome. Yetnikoff has some great insight on how major labels are run today as opposed to when he was head of CBS Records. He also rails a bit on Hit Men.

My business partner just informed me. Read this immediately!
[http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2008/04/01/apple-buys-universal]

Seth Godin wrote a blog post today that is titled “Opportunity of a lifetime.” It sums up in a small paragraph exactly why I think it is the perfect time to get into the music industry. Read it here [sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/03/opportunity-of.html]

I’m not going to be here on Monday. We’re crunching to get everything ready for two big shows. The Wes Sp8 EP release show on 3.28.08; and Street Corner Champs EP Download Party/Website Launch on 4.3.08. Stay tuned for the details…

I have been posting a lot more than usual lately. This is party because there is more to talk about, and partly because I’m contemplating increasing the frequency of my posts. It’s kind of a hard decision to make. On one hand I feel that I would be stretching myself way too thin, as I have so much going on right now. On the other hand, I feel that if I stick to my current schedule, which is to post every Monday, that I miss out on talking about a lot of things because they are no longer current. I feel I would be doing my blog and my audience a disservice if I tried to post too often, and the quality of my blog suffered. In any case I wanted to talk about something now, and not wait another four days, as I feel it won’t be as relevant then.

Nine Inch Nails has been coming up with some awesome ideas to connect with their audience. They recently have released a collection titled Ghosts, with different options for downloading or buying physical copies. Now they are taking the Ghosts project and enhancing it by doing a collaboration with their fans through YouTube. It’s really inspiring to me, and I plan to copy some of their ideas. Check out Trent Reznor’s latest blog post [www.nin.com]

photo credit: fiddi1
I was talking on the phone yesterday with a friend of mine, Jacquire King [www.jacquireking.com], and we began discussing the idea of community in the music industry. The whole conversation kind of coincides with my post from a month ago, The People Business. We concluded that most successful music happened when a group of people came together to form a community. The resulting sum was immensely more powerful than what the individual parts could have been on their own. There have been several of these key movements in the history of recorded music that are tied to a decade, a group of musicians/bands, a few key producers, a few key engineers, a few key record labels and/or publishing companies and a geographical location.

Examples include:

photo credit: tpholland

• The 50’s era American rock music in Memphis with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Sam Phillips, Sun Records, etc.
• The 60’s era British Invasion with the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Who, Norman Smith, Geoff Emerick, George Martin, Andrew Loog Oldham, Gus Skinas, EMI, Decca, etc.
• The 70’s Punk era with The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Sire Records, Seymour Stein, Richard Gottehrer, etc.
• The 80’s Hair Bands era in America with Motley Crue, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Poison, etc, and New Wave/Post Punk era in Manchester, England with Joy Division, The Church, Cocteau Twins, Echo and the Bunnymen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Factory Records, 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Geoff Travis, Tony Wilson, Ivo Watts Russell, Peter Kent, etc.
• The 90’s Seattle grunge with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Sub Pop Records, Butch Vig, Brendan O’Brien, Terry Date, etc.
• Recently in Nashville with the Muzik Mafia, Movement Nashville, The Music Society Nashville, Big and Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Chance, Cowboy Troy, Luna Halo, AutoVaughn, Kings of Leon, The Pink Spiders, etc.

photo credit: nichcollins

Jacquire also brought up Stax Records [www.soulsvilleusa.com], Muscle Shoals Sound Studio [www.muscleshoalssound.org], and Daptone Records [www.daptonerecords.com]. Each one of these companies is unique in that not only are they a part of a community as described above, but they also are companies that take an “all in house” approach. In the case of Stax and Muscle Shoals (both of which are no longer around), a house rhythm section was provided on recording sessions. These companies are also unique in that they have never tried to be all things to all people. Instead they have excelled in offering the best quality content to a niche who are interested in that content.

The point in all of this is that people want a community. People want to feel like they belong to something special. The people in these examples came together because they all had a common interest, and they wanted an outlet to express what they were passionate about. They began playing together, and as a natural occurrence attention was brought to what they were doing.

People as fans also want to feel like they belong to something special. They get attached to a story. They want to be able to retell the story of how a certain musical movement came into existence. People feel compelled to be the first on the scene. They want to be the authority in their social circle for this information.

Now with the internet and social media, this community has taken a whole new shape in the 21st century. As you continue to build your career as an artist or producer, think about your community and how you can actively become involved in it. There are infinitely new ways to propagate a community online built around your music. Pursue your dream purely for the sake of achieving your deepest desires. Focus on forming a social bond with fellow musicians, engineers, producers and other music industry people in your area. Focus on sharing a connection with fans. Create a story.

What do you think? What are some other musical communities/time periods that I didn’t mention here? What ways could you team up with other members of your community, or use social media to help each other gain exposure? Leave comments with your thoughts.

Note: All photos are Licensed Under Creative Commons

The music business is a people oriented business. Let me emphasize that; THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A PEOPLE ORIENTED BUSINESS. What I’m saying is that you have to actively develop and pursue relationships with people on a daily basis to maintain your career. These connections must be made with people in all facets of the music industry all the time, no matter what YOUR job title is. No one else can do this for you. Sure, you may have a manager. You might be signed to a record deal. Maybe some of your work has gotten some high profile exposure. Despite all of this, no one can inform others about you or your band better than you yourself. And if you are not willing to do what it takes to maintain your career, no one else is going to want to work with you. Your manager, record label, etc. can only present you with opportunities, you have to follow through. Your band is a business, and you need to be taking a hands-on approach in all of the daily managerial tasks. All the successful people who you come in contact with only got where they are because they worked harder than anyone else, made many significant sacrifices and at all costs figured out how to always say, “yes.”

Musicians:
It does not matter what level you are at in your music career, you are always going to need the help of the other band who has been around longer than you; who has more reach/influence. They have already built the fan-base, the relationship with the venue, gotten the exposure in local media, sold merchandise, struck friendships with other bands, made connections with various music industry people, etc… get the picture? In so many words they are “better” than you. I’m not saying your music is bad, just that to the outside you are an unfamiliar face. You are a huge risk. The consumers (your potential fans) are saying, “Why should I spend my hard earned $5 on this music?” The producers are saying, “Why should I spend time on this project?” The journalists are saying, “Where is it going to get me if I do a story on this band?” The radio is saying, “By adding this band to our playlist, are we really going to be able to increase our advertising revenue?” [Yes, the radio is in the advertising business, not the music exposure business.]

How do you penetrate all these bubbles? You become best friends with the gatekeepers. I’ll repeat myself: It does not matter what level you are at in your music career, you are always going to need the help of the other band who has been around longer than you. It’s great if you are looking to the musicians who are your juniors, and trying to think of ways to help them out, but you need to focus a lot more time on making friends with the people who are your seniors so that they can bring you up. Band X is a great band. When they play at the small clubs they can pack the house. But if they want to play at the medium sized clubs they are going to need to open for Band Y. Likewise, Band Y can pack out the medium sized clubs, but if they want to play the big clubs they are going to have to call on their friends Band Z for help.

Does this seem selfish to you? First of all, quit worrying about that. This is business. Second, it’s not selfish at all, give yourself more credit. You are a valuable asset to the bigger band. In all cases begin to condition yourself to thinking in terms of win/win. Because the fact is you are going to have to convince the senior band that you are good enough to share the stage. You see, they need an opening act, but it won’t do them any good to share the stage with just anybody, they need an opener who knows how to put 100% into a performance, and plays music that fits in context with the show. The venue will not let them play without one. Just like the radio is in the advertising business, the venue is in the beer/liquor business. The only thing the venue cares about is wether or not you draw a big enough crowd, so that they can sell a lot of alcohol. You can make yourself extremely valuable to everyone by going to the “better” band and saying, “Let me do all the work. I will book you a gig if I can be the opening act.” This way, not only do you begin to build a solid relationship with the “better” band, but you also begin to develop a personal relationship with the venue. Further, your fan-base may not be as big as the “better” band’s fan-base, but you do have a valuable and loyal fan-base who spends money at musical outings, right? This helps facilitate the win/win situation because your two fan-bases will be cross pollinating each other (and buying alcohol at the venue).

You ask, “how do I even put the first foot forward in developing this relationship?” By becoming a fan of every band you would like to play with. This again emphasizes the point I made about how focusing “up” instead of “down” is not selfish. You make yourself an asset to the “better” band because you are a fan first; you are regarded as a person who wants to help them make money. The quickest way to befriending a band, and subsequently joining forces with them, is to be at every single show, buy a copy of their EP/LP (and study it), and frequent their myspace page and website so that you always know what they have going on. This way, you have done your “homework” so to speak, and have something to bring to the table when you begin to make contact.

Beyond just sharing the stage, making this connection with “better” bands has the potential to help you tremendously in other areas. When you befriend a band who has more reach than you, you gain access to their network. Additionally, if they really like you, they may use their influence to call in favors for you. Are you looking to make a recording? Well the “better” band just finished making a record with a great engineer, and can put you in contact with him/her. Are you wondering how to get your music placed on cdbaby and iTunes? The “better” band can show you the details. Would you like to have coffee with a band manager? Again, your friends in the “better” band can make that happen.

I have been making my point by focusing on the benefits of befriending another band, but this illustration should not be limited to that scenario. You can and should apply these same points to any relationship you pursue to advance your career.

To sum this section up I’ll present a bulleted list:

• The music industry is a people oriented business; make friends with everyone wether they are a consumer (fan), producer, venue manager, journalist, etc.
• No matter what level you are at in your music career, you always need someone “better” than you to help you
• Don’t just put your focus on the junior bands with less exposure/resources than you, also focus on the bands who are your senior (focus “up” in addition to “down”)
• Make yourself an asset to the people you want to work with
• Create a win/win situation
• You get fans by becoming a fan yourself first
• When you become friends with a band who is your senior, you gain access to their network

Producers/Engineers:
This lesson does not only apply to indie musicians who are just starting out, but to indie producers and engineers who are launching their careers as well. The bulleted list above can be adapted to fit in the context of a producer or engineer’s career:

• The music industry is a people oriented business-have I made this point yet?
• No matter what level you are at in your music career, you always need someone “better” than you to help you.
  All those CD’s you have piled up in the corner of your room? Look at the liner notes. Find out who made those records and get to know them. This may be easier said than done if you don’t live anywhere near the major music hubs, such as New York, Nashville and Los Angeles, but the internet is a wonderful thing.
• Balance out your focus between those who are “up” from you, and those who are “down” from you.
  Both groups of people, the ones who are your senior, and the ones who are your junior, have valuable lessons/skills to teach you, as well as assets to offer to you. For example, your juniors get you to think when they ask for your advice. You might end up learning something new, or gaining a new perspective on something when you go through this thought process. Your juniors also have valuable skills that they can offer to help you work more efficiently. Your seniors get you to think when you ask them for advice. They teach you to think differently and more complex about something than you had before. They show you tricks that never occurred to you. Your seniors also have valuable tools that they might share with you (such as gear), or people they can connect you with.
• Make yourself an asset to the people you want to work with.
  Just like your juniors have valuable skills that can help you work more efficiently, you also have valuable skills that can serve as an asset to your seniors. Tasks like setting up microphones, filling out recall sheets, documenting sessions with photos, preparing files to be mixed and printing mixes to the two-track machine are just a few examples.
• Create a win/win situation.
  A couple common problems with young engineers who are just starting out is that they 1) can’t get any work because they don’t have enough experience and 2) the work they do get does not pay well and is unreliable. The solution to this problem is to place value on experience rather than money. In most business, and especially in the music industry, if you put the focus on quality the money will just happen. Besides, at this stage in your career you are still learning. Don’t get me wrong you will always be learning, but when you are first starting out you are spending a lot of time on the fundamentals. You need to put your focus on building your portfolio and skill set, and focus on making money later. You can strike deals with artists like negotiating the right to use the material on your personal website or myspace page to showcase your work. Additionally, the right to use the material on a CD in order to give to a publishing company, record label executive or producer so that they might hire you for another gig. A band should not object to this, as it is exposure that could work to their advantage. The way one engineer I used to work for put it was that you need people rooting for you. In other words, position yourself such that others do well if you do well.
• You get fans by becoming a fan yourself first.
  Let’s face it: we all do what we do in music for the satisfaction we get when others enjoy our work. Everyone likes to be complimented, so if you want people to talk about your work, then talk about their work, study their work and ask them questions about their work. Not only will you show them that you pay attention and admire them, but you will learn a few things too.

Remember, the music business is a what oriented business? PEOPLE ORIENTED BUSINESS… You only get out of your career what you put into it. When you strike that killer record deal, that is when the work starts. When you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, that is when the work first starts. Extremely hard work and patience are key. No one wants to help someone who won’t help themselves. Make sure you are always active in your own career. When you work along side those who work for you, you will find out that success happens a lot quicker and smoother. And typically it is bigger than you expected. Do yourself a favor and don’t tie your hands by tying other people’s hands. Do your share of the work. Make sacrifices. Create a win/win situation. Seek opportunity. Find a way to say, “Yes.”

Although I thought I was back to 100% by last Thursday, turns out I’m not. I will feel well, then suddenly I won’t. I have gotten behind in work, and there is a lot to do. I’m frustrated to the point of biting nails.

Bob Lefsetz made some good points in a recent post. Particularly this quote rang out to me:

The music business will be fine. People will create music and infrastructure will exist to monetize that music. It just won’t look like the system we have now. How will it look? Ask those small, nimble companies starting out, who aren’t worried about protecting their infrastructure.

There are some additional bits of dialogue and links to other goodies worth reading. [lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2008/02/02/quote-of-the-day/]

At The End of Week One
Last week I briefly recapped 2007 and some motivation/inspiration I experienced throughout the year. I also alluded to some goals that I have in mind for 2008. This week I would like to expound on that topic a little bit by briefly discussing productivity, and goal setting/planning. The first seven days of this year have already been very productive for me, as I have been able to check off some accomplished goals right away. The stage has been set for success in 2008, and I believe my motivation is going to exponentially increase this year.

Light A Fire
I recently read some blog posts from two of my favorite motivators, and they really got me fired up. David Hooper and Bob Baker chose perfect timing to write about goal setting, as my mind is constantly preoccupied with the topic. Realistically this is no coincidence considering it is the tip top of 2008. In any case, you should read their posts on setting goals and being productive.

You will find David’s post at www.musicmarketing.com/2008/01/goal_setting_fo.html
You will find Bob’s post at www.bob-baker.com/musicpromotionblog/2008/01/5-steps-to-setting-music-goals-you-will.html

Bob also mentioned, in his post 2008: Jump-Start Your Music Career, a book that I am currently finishing up, and planned to talk about in the near future. The book is called, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress—Free Productivity by David Allen. This is a book that my friend and Nashville songwriter/performing artist, Aron Wright [makeoutmusiccompany.wordpress.com] recommended to me a couple of years ago. I had it on my “to—read” list ever since then, but I finally got around to cracking it open about ten days ago.

In the book Allen, a career coach and management consultant, discusses his system for constant up—to—date organization that is far more efficient than the typical to—do list and calendar items you would find most people tracking. It takes a couple of days blocked out and totally uninterrupted to set up the system. I have scheduled my time for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Good organizational skills are a big challenge, and since I am setting out to accomplish more in 2008 than I ever have before, I figured now was the best time to finally read this book.

More
Additionally, Freelance Folder, a blog that I frequent geared for bloggers, writers, publishers, designers, artists, small business owners, entrepreneurs and (you guessed it) freelancers, have run an article on goal setting and productivity called How To Unleash the Productivity Beast. The author, Ritu, asked readers to share some productivity tips. Since my post this week ties in, I would like to share a few tips:

• Schedule some time in advance to implement a system of organization, and clean out your workspace
• Set long term, medium term and short term goals, and map out a plan of action to attain these goals. Within those different plans of action list high and low priorities
• Find and read good books related to this topic. I have a rather long reading list myself. Stay current on this blog, and I’ll share my thoughts on what I read

You can catch Ritu’s article here: freelancefolder.com/unleash-the-productivity-beast/

Let’s Begin to Make This Apply
This blog is mainly for people who are either getting started, or looking for growth in the music industry. It does not matter what facet of the music industry seems attractive to you, to get where you want to go in this business you are going to need a plan, and a whole lot of motivation/inspiration. I would like to know: Do you have a plan? What could you do this month, this week or today that would be a big step towards attaining your goal this year?

I’ll close this week by quoting David Hooper:

“An important part of attaining your goals, or one that at least makes getting them easier, is having other people on board to help you.”

I’ll add that it’s also important to have motivational outlets in place to light a fire under you. I recommend David Hooper’s, Bob Baker’s and the Freelance Folder blogs at the links posted above to get you started. Alright, and I recommend producer notes too…